YORKSHIRE have announced that off spinner Azeem Rafiq, 20, and left-hand batsman Gary Ballance, 21, have both committed their futures to the club by signing two-year extensions to their contracts.

Right-arm seamer Moin Ashraf, 19, and Joe Root, 20, a right-hand bat and offspin bowler, have been offered similar deals and it is hoped both will sign soon.

The club have released bowler Ben Sanderson and all-rounder Lee Hodgson while spinner David Wainwright has exercised the clause in his contract whereby he can request to be released if he isn’t playing regular first team cricket.

Director of professional cricket, Martyn Moxon, said: “We are delighted to offer contract extensions to these very talented youngsters who have shown such promise in an otherwise disappointing season.

“As is the nature of the game, we have also made the very difficult decision to release three other professionals and we wish Lee, Ben and David all the very best for the future.”

Meanwhile Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves claims some county sides are in danger of financial collapse.

Yorkshire were in the majority as one of the counties to lose money in 2010, with a pre-tax deficit of £2m.

Graves criticised the scheduling in county cricket, saying even he needs to pick up a fixture list to be sure where Yorkshire are playing.

And he claims some teams are struggling to justify themselves as professional sport clubs.

Graves said: “I think there is a serious risk of some counties going bust. When you look at it, some of the counties, the returns they make on what they’ve got and the profits they generate, will never justify being a business really.

“The problem we’ve got with the county game is that the majority of counties are struggling for cash.

“Unless we address that, there is definitely a risk of clubs going under.”

A solution, he says would be to tighten up the programme of matches, possibly making the County Championship a three-tier competition.

“At the moment, the players are complaining there’s too much cricket, the members are saying the fixtures are all over the place and we need a better appointment-to-view so that people know when games are taking place to help increase attendances and bring in more money,” Graves said. “I’m the chairman of Yorkshire County Cricket Club but if someone says to me, ‘where are Yorkshire playing?’ I haven’t got a clue.

“I’ve got to get a fixture list out because I don’t know when we’re playing from one week to the next - and neither does Joe Public. The fixtures are all over the place.”